Intellectual Property

  • March 28, 2024

    NC Atty Calls Airline Mogul's Bank Records Request 'Reckless'

    A North Carolina attorney has asked a federal court to snuff a request by an airline tycoon to dig into the attorney's banking records as part of a hacking conspiracy lawsuit, arguing the request is an overbroad, "reckless" grab at irrelevant information.

  • March 28, 2024

    'Better Made' Chips Goes After 'Better Smoke' Pot

    Detroit-based Better Made Snack Foods Inc. said a number of cannabis companies in Michigan have been selling a line of "Better Smoke" cannabis products that mimics the snack brand's century-old logo in a trademark infringement lawsuit filed Wednesday.

  • March 28, 2024

    NBCUniversal, DeLorean Settle 'Back To The Future' TM Suit

    NBCUniversal Media LLC has settled a trademark infringement suit over royalty payments for its use of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car on "Back to the Future" merchandise, according to a notice filed Tuesday in California federal court.

  • March 28, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen investors target fraudsters who ran a fake film tax scheme, Barclays Bank sue privately owned Russian bank PJSC Sovcombank, easyGroup bring a trademark infringement claim against online casino TGI Entertainment for its "easybet" word sign, and a bioethanol fuel company hit high-profile individuals connected to the collapsed Elysian Fuels scheme. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • March 27, 2024

    Kim Kardashian Accused Of Touting Fake Donald Judd Tables

    Kim Kardashian bought knockoff Donald Judd tables and chairs for her Skkn By Kim office space and then touted the furniture in a video to her 2 million YouTube subscribers as authentic pieces designed by the late artist, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in California federal court.

  • March 27, 2024

    Warner Bros. Beats Claim It Stole Idea For 2022 'Batman' Film

    A New York federal judge on Wednesday granted Warner Bros. and DC Comics separate wins in a suit accusing the entertainment giants of stealing a comic book artist's story idea for the 2022 movie "The Batman," finding it was actually the artist who exploited the Batman universe.

  • March 27, 2024

    Judge-Shopping Guidance Unlikely To Affect Patent Hot Spots

    Recent guidance by the policymaking body for U.S. courts aimed at deterring "judge shopping" likely won't disrupt patent cases in Texas, experts say, since the suggestions are not mandatory and can be viewed as already being in place in popular patent districts.

  • March 27, 2024

    TikTok Star Ordered To Pay $805K To Sony For Sampling Song

    A Texas federal judge on Wednesday ordered TikTok musician Trefuego to pay Sony Music Entertainment Inc. more than $805,000 for illegally sampling its licensed song "Reflections," but he denied Sony's bid for an injunction.

  • March 27, 2024

    ITC Judge Recommends Exclusion Order In Tourniquet IP Row

    A U.S. International Trade Commission administrative judge has recommended the commission order that imports of products related to blood flow restriction be banned, handing a win to a pair of American medical product manufacturers.

  • March 27, 2024

    Citing Warhol, 10th Circ. Undoes Netflix's 'Tiger King' Win

    The Tenth Circuit on Wednesday relied on last year's landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Warhol case to set aside a fair use win for Netflix Inc. in a copyright suit brought by a former zoo employee who livestreamed the funeral of the husband of "Tiger King" star Joe Exotic.

  • March 27, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Says Faulty Jury Directions Warrant New IP Trial

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday granted Inline Plastics Corp. another chance to convince a Massachusetts federal jury that its tamper-resistant plastic containers were too successful for the underlying patents to be invalidated as obvious.

  • March 27, 2024

    Pool Co. Says Objection To Trial Attys Leaving Is 'Misplaced'

    A swimming pool equipment maker has hit back at objections to some of its counsel exiting the case after a nearly $15 million trial loss over false ad claims in North Carolina, saying its rival's grievances are "misplaced."

  • March 27, 2024

    Candy Co. Can Use Recipe Amid 'Chocolate Moonshine' Fight

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has refused to ban the candy maker Local Yokels Fudge from making or selling fudge, ruling the owner's ex-husband hadn't shown the company is still using his family's secret "Chocolate Moonshine" fudge recipe.

  • March 27, 2024

    Farm Data Co. Wants To Bar Carlton Fields Atty From IP Suit

    Lawyers for an agricultural industry data software outfit want a Carlton Fields lawyer banned from participating in a patent dispute with a rival startup because of her in-house involvement at the rival and work on an older trade secrets suit involving the same technology.

  • March 27, 2024

    Netflix Owes Fees For Defense Tactics In Patent Trial

    Netflix has been ordered to pay attorney fees to GoTV Streaming LLC after making a last-minute switch of its defense at a patent trial last year in California federal court that resulted in a $2.5 million verdict against the streaming giant. 

  • March 27, 2024

    On Deck In JPML: Baby Food, 23andMe Privacy, NCAA

    The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation's packed meeting Thursday in South Carolina will see the panel mulling consolidation of privacy litigation against 23andMe, claims of heavy metals in baby food, and scholarship-fixing claims by student athletes against the NCAA — and that's just for starters.

  • March 27, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Caps $7M Verdict While Clarifying Foreign Damages

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday rejected Trading Technologies' attempt to increase its $6.6 million patent infringement win against IBG LLC, in an opinion focusing on how to apply a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on foreign damages.

  • March 27, 2024

    Bungie, YouTuber Settle False Copyright Infringement Suit

    An online gamer has settled a lawsuit filed by video game developer Bungie Inc. after a Washington federal judge ruled earlier this month that the gamer illegally posed as a company employee and reported Bungie fans' YouTube videos as copyright violations, according to a court order Wednesday.

  • March 27, 2024

    New England Patriots Defeat Stadium Wi-Fi Patent Case

    A patent-holding entity behind nearly a dozen infringement suits focused on Wi-Fi solutions for sports stadiums suffered its latest defeat Wednesday as a Boston federal judge dismissed its case against the New England Patriots and found the purported invention unpatentable.

  • March 27, 2024

    Judge Won't Sift Through IP Docs For Oil Co.'s Counterclaims

    A Colorado federal judge said it's "patently unreasonable" to expect her to comb through hundreds of pages to find support for an oil and gas equipment maker's patent invalidity allegations, as she dismissed three of the company's counterclaims. 

  • March 27, 2024

    PTAB Wrongly Found Laser IP Obvious, Fed. Circ. Rules

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday reversed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that several claims of a Virtek Vision patent on aligning lasers used in manufacturing are invalid as obvious, while also siding with Virtek Vision on a cross appeal.

  • March 27, 2024

    Piracy Claims Against Bankrupt ISP Frontier Can Go Forward

    A New York bankruptcy judge Wednesday said a group of copyright holders can go to trial with claims internet service provider Frontier Communications is liable for failing to cut off customers who downloaded pirated music and movies.

  • March 26, 2024

    PTAB Tosses 'Smart Card' Patent Used Against Banks

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found that all the claims of a Kioba Processing LLC patent on using a "smart card" to increase the security of wireless transactions are invalid as anticipated or obvious.

  • March 26, 2024

    Albright Told That Choice Hotel's Alice Ax Is 'Premature'

    Patent Armory has told Texas federal Judge Alan D. Albright that a bid to dismiss its patent lawsuit against Choice Hotels International is "premature" and should be set aside at least until fact discovery is done and claim construction has been issued.

  • March 26, 2024

    Consumers Push For New 9th Circ. Panel In Qualcomm Case

    Cellphone buyers are coming out strong against Qualcomm's request to have the same Ninth Circuit panel that vacated their class certification hear an appeal to revive the long-running antitrust litigation over the company's licensing practices, saying there is no reason for "meddling with the usual practice for assigning cases."

Expert Analysis

  • Rethinking Tech Contract Terms For Governance Of AI Use

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    Traditional considerations in technology deals are often inadequate for governing artificial intelligence use, which means lawyers should revisit and reimagine existing terms across the full spectrum of relevant contracts, ranging from procurement agreements and data licenses to customer agreements, say Marina Aronchik and Samuel Hartman at Mayer Brown.

  • Deploying Analogies To Explore AI Copyright Questions

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    Xin Shao at F. Chau & Associates translates two representative artificial intelligence copyright cases into more traditional copyright law scenarios to facilitate the direct application of legal theories to undisputed technological facts.

  • The Case For Post-Bar Clerk Training Programs At Law Firms

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    In today's competitive legal hiring market, an intentionally designed training program for law school graduates awaiting bar admission can be an effective way of creating a pipeline of qualified candidates, says Brent Daub at Gilson Daub.

  • What's At Stake In Bystolic 'Side Deals' Litigation

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    In re: Bystolic Antitrust Litigation, which has oral argument set for next month, will likely shed light on how the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit views side deals, and could create a circuit split in pleading standards for reverse payment cases, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • Attorneys Have An Ethical Duty To Protect The Judiciary

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    The tenor of public disagreement and debate has become increasingly hostile against judges, and though the legislative branch is trying to ameliorate this safety gap, lawyers have a moral imperative and professional requirement to stand with judges in defusing attacks against them and their rulings, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Best Practices For Defense Tech Startup Financing

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    Navigating the expanding and highly regulated defense technology sector requires careful planning and execution, starting at incorporation, so startups should prepare for foreign investor issues, choose their funding wisely and manage their funds carefully, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • 'Trump Too Small' Args Show Justices Inclined To Reverse

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the "Trump Too Small" trademark case Vidal v. Elster — and the tenor of the justices' feedback makes it clear that the refusal to register a mark under the Lanham Act most likely does not violate free speech rights, as opposed to the Federal Circuit's decision last year, says Brian Brookey at Tucker Ellis.

  • FTC Orange Book Move Signals New Pharma Patent Scrutiny

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent dispute against improper listing of drug patents in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book indicates heightened surveillance of the pharmaceutical industry, particularly where competition-related consequences of patent or regulatory processes are concerned, say attorneys at Fenwick.

  • AI Can Help Lawyers Overcome The Programming Barrier

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    Legal professionals without programming expertise can use generative artificial intelligence to harness the power of automation and other technology solutions to streamline their work, without the steep learning curve traditionally associated with coding, says George Zalepa at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Why The Effect Of Vivint Has Been Minimal

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    A survey of recent ex parte reexamination decisions since the Federal Circuit’s 2021 In re: Vivint decision appears to support the court’s conclusion that the ruling was limited in scope and would have limited impact, says Yao Wang at Fish & Richardson.

  • Transparency And Explainability Are Critical To AI Compliance

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    Although there is not yet a comprehensive law governing artificial intelligence, regulators have tools to hold businesses accountable, and companies need to focus on ensuring that consumers and key stakeholders understand how their AI systems operate and make decisions, say Chanley Howell and Lauren Hudon at Foley & Lardner.

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • How Social Media Can Affect Trial Outcomes

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    With social media’s ability to seize upon an issue and spin it into a specifically designed narrative, it is more critical than ever that a litigation communications strategy be part of trial planning to manage the impact of legal action on a company's reputation, say Sean Murphy and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • The Scope Of Challenged Claims After Fed. Circ. Sisvel Ruling

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    Joshua Weisenfeld at Sheppard Mullin considers the Federal Circuit's recent Sisvel v. Sierra decision and its impact on claim construction and post-issuance claim amendments that broaden the scope of challenged claims.

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